hidden antenna

[soggybottom]

I recently purchased an 08 street glide from an Arizona dealership with a detatchable tour pack. the pack has an antenna mount but no mast, so I purchase the shorty mast and then discover the stock antenna wire disconnected and zip tied to the frame by the left shock mount. I ask the parts guy if an extention wire is available and he tells me no and a boom audio hidden antenna is recommended with the detatchable docking system. so I purchase the hidden antenna and head home to install it. upon opening the fairing I discover a Rockford fosgate amp mounted atop the radio and a Dakota digital antenna mounted to the inner fairing. not getting a signal I assume the Dakota digital is toast  so I remove it and install the boom audio antenna as per the instruction sheet and guess what? no signal still. my question is, is there a trim adjustment somewhere on the radio as I seen on automotive radios?

[UltraNutZ]

go to autozone, get you a 6' antenna extension cable, plug it in at the radio, plug it in at the left side cover for your rear mast.  The stock location for the SG antenna is at the left rear fender mounted.  The part # for the stock antenna wire extension that your parts guy tells you is not available is 76248-86

Those in-fairing antennae suck at best so if you want good FM reception, toss it.

The only "trim" for FM antennae are the mast itself in lengthening and shortening to the appropriate length per the freq band needed to cover.

[soggybottom]

with the tour pak detatched and stored at home, I would not have an antenna. the detatch docking kit occupies both holes in the rear fender where the stock antenna protrudes thru the fender. I think that's the reason the hidden antenna is recommended.

[UltraNutZ]

then reconnect your mast back there and slide it into the left side fender support rail where it's hidden.

I may be retarded but on a SG I'm pretty sure the antenna back there is not mounted on or through the fender and should have no bearing on whether the tourpak is on or not.   

[soggybottom]

thanx nutz. i'll give that a shot.

[Snuff™]

Here's a mount I made (thin plate & BBQ flat blk paint) when I removed my tourpak from my Classic.  Don't know if it's in the way of docking system though.

[soggybottom]

I gave up and abandoned the hidden antenna and bought the relocation kit, the mast can either be attatched to the tour pak  or be moved down to the relocation mount and the radio works like a champ now. I've read a lot of negative comments on those internal antennas, does anyone have any luck with them? and of course being an electrical part, there is no returning it once it" been installed. [big poke in the azz as far as i'm concerned]

[UltraNutZ]

I haven't had any success worth mentioning with those things in a very long time.

[DGlide04]

I've had the "hidden" antenna in the faring of my Road King for 3 years now and the performance is well, spotty at best.  Great for picking up nearby stations, but it sucks at more distant stations.  It's being junked this week and I'm changing it out for a real antenna that'll go back to the LR saddlebag mount.  That should take care of the fading on the FM stations.

[soggybottom]

the damned thing would not pick up a local phoenix station 100.7 fm (which rocks by the way) and i'm within 10 miles of it's broadcast tower. as soon as I installed the Harley relocation kit and went with the shorty whip, VIOLA, no more radio problems, and a big shout out to  who ever traded that street glide to chandler Harley, that amp and speakers rock.

[Goose160]

I relocated my stock antenna to go under my seat. It works alright but better than the hidden internal antennas.

[gliderider06]

I may be getting in late on this conversation, but I've used Dakota Digital hidden antennas on 3 different bikes now and have had no complaints. The Dakota Digital is the only hidden antenna I've found that is worth anything at all. I work at a bike shop and have sold many of these with no complaints either. Usually replacing the Harley ones! Hope this helps someone!

[Hossamania]

For now I'm keeping both big whippie antenaes on my '12 Ultra because they bother the hell out of my Buddie.

[wfolarry]

I have the hidden antenna on my bike & it works great. Better than the whip I took off the rear. I must have gotten lucky.

[tdgriff]

Same for me love my hidden. My uncle did the same love his.

[FLTRI]

I may be getting in late on this conversation, but I've used Dakota Digital hidden antennas on 3 different bikes now and have had no complaints. The Dakota Digital is the only hidden antenna I've found that is worth anything at all. I work at a bike shop and have sold many of these with no complaints either. Usually replacing the Harley ones! Hope this helps someone!

Is it possible you have excellent reception due to wide open areas rather than in town where buildings deflect FM signals?
Bob

[tdgriff]

I may be getting in late on this conversation, but I've used Dakota Digital hidden antennas on 3 different bikes now and have had no complaints. The Dakota Digital is the only hidden antenna I've found that is worth anything at all. I work at a bike shop and have sold many of these with no complaints either. Usually replacing the Harley ones! Hope this helps someone!

Is it possible you have excellent reception due to wide open areas rather than in town where buildings deflect FM signals?
Bob

I think a lot of it has to deal with were you live and ride

[UltraNutZ]

I've got an install to do either later this weekend or sometime next week which will consist of head unit replacement, RZ4-3000D amp in fairing, HD in-fairing antenna.  I'll put a few miles on it to test FM reception and report back.

[DGlide04]

I followed this thread and finally made the decision to junk the "hidden" antenna in my RK fairing over the weekend.  The antenna was at best marginal, now replaced with a regular mast type antenna attached to the rear saddle bag mount.  My car and the bike have the same Kenwood head units but the problem I find is that the stations that come in very clear with the car are still static filled on the bike.

The bike installation was a simple swap of the hidden for the mast antenna and routing the cable from the saddlebag mount to the radio connection.  The only thing I can think of is that the antenna might not be grounded properly, otherwise I'm at a loss to figure out why the radio reception is not much better than with the hidden antenna I took out.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. 

[UltraNutZ]

HD antenna or an aftermarket antenna?

[DGlide04]

Ultra,

This was an aftermarket antenna, not the HD mast.

[DGlide04]

Ultra,

This was an aftermarket antenna, not the HD mast.

Ultranutz,

Would the HD antenna make that much of a difference between a aftermarket?  I've tried other aftermarket antennas by changing out the lead and mast and they don't work all that well either.  The HD unit a better unit?